Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the impact of migration on the economic wellbeing of origin households in rural India. Findings show while socially high-ranked long-term migrant-sending households have higher consumption growth and better food security, it is insignificant for short term migrant households.

Paper long abstract:

Internal migration accounts for a large share of the overall migration in the world. Contrary to the neoclassical theory assumption of independent and permanent migration of surplus labour, the process and interlinkages between migration and development is complex and depends upon socio-cultural-regional factors. Labour migration and share of remittances in household earnings have increased over the past decade. Though long-term migration and remittances are the most common channels through which places of origin benefit from migration, they are inadequately captured in data, and other channels are ignored. A substantial share of internal migration is short-term/ seasonal and studies have noted various links between migrants and origin households. This paper using the IHDS panel data analyses the impact of different types of migration on the economic wellbeing of origin households in rural India during 2004 to 2011. Economic wellbeing is captured through monthly per capita income, consumption expenditure, food expenditure and non-food expenditure. Logistic model and Initial Fixed Effect model with DID specification are used for the analysis. Preliminary observation indicates that socially higher-ranked groups are more likely to have long-term migrants while short-term migration is more likely for lower-ranked groups. Also, mean difference indicates significant upward economic mobility for both short-term and long-term migrant households. However, controlling for the other factors shows that long-term migrant-sending households have higher income and consumption growth, better food security and higher investment in non-food items, while the effect is insignificant for short term migrant households and negative for tribal groups.